Xbox Live Gold membership will include two free games per month

Starting on July 1st, Xbox Live Gold members will receive two free games every month. The first pair of games will be Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3 which can be downloaded from the Marketplace. This initiative is undoubtedly to combat Sony’s PlayStation Plus service which regularly gives its members free titles. While we can all appreciate getting free games as a perk for being a member, Microsoft might want to consider being more competitive with the selection of games that they give away. Tomorrow, PlayStation Plus members will get Uncharted 3, LittleBigPlanet Kart Racing, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. If you look at it squarely from a value proposition perspective, Sony is giving a lot more.

There is also still some ambiguity about whether or not you can keep the games if you end your Gold membership. We’ll hit up Microsoft during the week to confirm.